Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is slated to hold its first business session since the 31 members were elected to office on February 7. By all indications, it will be a full session for legislators, who will for the first time receive a number of bills for major constitutional amendments – not the least among them being changes in the law to allow for “preventative detention” and the recall of elected officials.
Friday’s session is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m., and KREM FM is set to broadcast the proceedings live.
The administration of Prime Minister Dean Barrow has informed that items on the agenda will include bills to: (1) empower electors to recall elected area representatives, (2) amend the Referendum Act to give electors the power to be able to trigger a national referendum on matters they feel are of public importance, (3) enlarge the Senate by adding one seat for the non-government organizations, which would make the total number of appointed senators 13, (4) extend the powers and functions of the Senate in a manner that will enable the Senate to initiate and conduct inquiries into the operations of any government office or public statutory body, (5) institute a three-term limit for the Office of Prime Minster, (6) enable the Auditor General to submit his report directly to the National Assembly rather than having to go through the Minister, (7) outlaw secrecy in government contracts, and (8) enable preventative detention, and increase the scope of wire tapping surveillance.
The House has 25 United Democratic Party members and 6 People’s United Party members.
The Leader of the Opposition is Johnny Briceño, who takes the place of former PUP leader Said Musa.